Christmas's Event + Dong Zhi

21/12/2016 Christmas's Event!

Christmas is around the corner! Today Beishi elementary school organised a Christmas English Learning Event. This event is aimed to encourage students to use their English knowledge in daily lives. Just a week before the event, we had meetings to plan the activities for the children. It was not easy to plan the games for them, especially when you have no idea about their knowledge level! Luckily, with the help from every teacher, we finally came up with an ideal plan. 

We have five station in total, which are:

1.Maze Runner

2. Cross the River

3. I can use my Body 

4. Daily English 

5. Baseball Squad in Beishi 

Look easy, but actually it is quite challenging for them. I was in-charged for the first game, "The Maze Runner". Students were required to blindfold ( except the team leader), and follow the instruction of the team leader to pass through the maze. This game can train the sense of direction of the kids and at the same time practice their vocabulary for direction ( such as left, right, forward etc.) 

Children are required to be blindfolded. 

I am explaining the rules to the team leader.

Children have to follow the instructions of the team leader to pass through the maze.

The games in other stations were quite interesting too. These are some of the photos:

Daily English station. carried out by Kevin.

Cross the river: Students have to step on the correct words to pass through the "river"

I can use my body: Students use their bodies to act out the words and the others have to guess the words.

Baseball Squad: Use the soft ball to hit the plate, and read out the word loudly.

Our Principal is the secret Santa xD Santa is giving out candies to the kids. 

The whole Beishi students. :) 

The whole event took about 1 hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 am. And after that, everyone go back to their classes and had their lessons. Oh, and today is Dong Zhi as well. I am glad that I can still eat the Tang Yuan although I am not in Malaysia. Happy Winter Solstice!

 

太鼓藝文擺攤

17th December 2016  Day 15 
This morning, Beishi school had an event at下營武承恩公園.
              It was a small fair for the elementary school children to take part and perform. The Beishi school kids were going to perform the " 太鼓". They won the "You Deng Jiang" last time in a competition. My host sister, Trinity took part in it too. At around 9 am, we arrived at 下營 and I could see many people were already there to set up their booths and be ready. 太鼓藝文擺攤

         There was a morning market just beside the venue. So, I walked around to search for any special snacks. The market in Taiwan is quite different with the one in Malaysia. In Malaysia, our markets are mostly food such as vegetables, meats, soy beans, breakfasts and so on. However, in Taiwan, I can see there are many varieties. They also sell clothes, soaps and slippers other than food!

         At around 11:30 am, it was the kids' turn to perform. To be honest, they played very well compared to the other schools. Their hard works were paid off. :) I will definitely try to play the 太鼓if I have the chance.

     After event, I visit the Qi Shui Yan Shan with my host family. I always wanted to visit the place as the salt looks like the snow! But unfortunately, the Typhoon last time was too strong and it destroyed part of the salt mountain. Therefore, it is currently under maintenance and not allowed to climb. :(
After that we went to the Taiwan Salt Museum. Well I think they have do put more efforts in advertising this place as the crowd was quite less although it was Saturday.  In the museum, I had learnt the history and the making process of the salt many years ago. It was really amazing and worth to visit.

  At around 8 pm, we went home. Today was indeed a fruitful day ( and yet a tiring day xD) So currently, one of my things to do in Taiwan had been checked and I am looking forward for my next trip. :)

Busy day oh yeah!

14th  December 2016  Day 12 
      Early in the morning, the students were gathered at the auditorium to have their assembly. It was held on every Wednesday, and the teachers would announce some important matters. Today, "Wang Zhu Ren" introduce a "Carbon Monoxide Poisonous" campaign to raise their awareness about this matter.
After that, the Year 6 students gave a short presentation about their graduation trip around Taiwan. I was very interested on the places they went, as I would take it as an example to plan my trip afterwards. Salute to their teacher who was willing to take the responsibilities of taking care of them during the whole journey.

               Today I joined the Year 2 students to make the rice ball as Dong Zhi is coming soon. This is the first time I celebrated this day with other people without my family. Normally in my home, my mum will prepare a two big rice dough, with pink and white colour, and we will start to roll it in to small ball. Rice ball represent Tuan Yuan, means reunion. Well this year is special as I am not around with my family, but it is indeed a very great experience :)


                                       

                                        



At night, I played basketball with Ryan's friends. Even though I am not good enough, but we still have fun playing together (at least I helped my team scored xD) I feel so great after the intense exercise, and it was a totally different feeling to exercise during winter.

New week with year 2 :D

12th December 2016

A fresh new week stated. This morning, the Yea 5 students had a video learning session with the teachers from Phillipines. Once again I was amazed by the Taiwan learning system as in Malaysia, we hardly have the online leaning session with the teacher overseas. It was quite effective in improving their English skill as they can help them to improve their speaking and listening.


Students were having video learning session. 

       This week I will accompany the Year 2 students. There are more students in Year 2 compared to year 1, a total of 11 students. As today was my first day with them, I just observed their style of learning and remember their names. During recess time, I played with those kids on the field. It was really fun to be with them, happiness was everywhere. Besides, everyday, the lunch session was my favourite time. The food the school provided was so nice. I felt at home whenever I had the meal.

                                                              Lunch today. I love it!

My last day stay with the Year 1 kids...

9th December 2016

Early in the morning, the Year One kids had an interesting session to learn about the solar system. Today we learned about the phenomena of  "螢惑寐心" which was a bad sign during the ancient China period.

The students were having class about the solar system.

Drama session. The students were given chances to perform on the stage.

Another interesting thing to be noted is that the kids in Taiwan have to learn the "台語". It is a compulsory subject for them. So, today I am lucky to have a "台語" session with them. I tried to sing the "台語" song but my standard is too low. However, it was still fun to learn it. :)

One of my favourite food in Tainan, "Wa Kueh" It was very tasty.

                 As today was my last day in Year 1, I had a culture sharing session with them. Last night, I did the presentation slides of Malaysia, and today I used the slides to introduce my beloved country to them. I am proud to be a Malaysian as our culture are so unique. I tried my best to explain the culture of Malaysia to them, so that they will be interested and amazed by our culture too. I also taught the kids Indian dance. It was fun to see them follow your steps and dance with you. Those students were very enthusiastic in learning new things, which was one of the reason why I love mixing around with them so much. They could always surprise you. :)
             After the dancing session, I gave each of them one candy as a reward for their acts.I hoped they would like it.

Culture sharing session: Teaching them the Malay song (Bangun Pagi, Gosok gigi)

Teach them the simple steps of Indian Dance

Day 2...

7th December 2016
           I started my morning with a story telling session to the students. To be honest, I was quite worried as they might not understand the story. It was indeed a challenge for me as I had to try my best to simplify my story so that they can enjoy it. Fortunately, with the help of Miss Yan, the children can understand my story quite well. After that, I went to Class Year 1 to introduce myself and do some cultural sharing. The children were adorable, and they were definitely the curious babies. I had a great time staying with them, and I cant wait to share my experience with them.

         During their recess time, the children will drag me to the playground behind to play with them. The most popular game they played is the "who be the ghost", and they will run around the playground to avoid being catch. As this was the first time for me to teach in Taiwan, some of their study styles were very new to me. For example, they will have 10 minutes break time for every 40 minutes class. This period was where the children could rest and play around. I think this is a great way of studying as the students can concentrate more after having a break. 

Year One students were having video session.

I was playing with the kids at the playground during recess.


Delicious lunch in the school. 

Another best thing I found in Taiwan's schools is they will prepare healthy and free lunch for their students to ensure they had enough nutrients. Besides, around 3 pm, the school will prepare some snacks for them as well. I hope Malaysia can have this kind of system too.

A brand new experience...

6th December 2016

Today is my first day of teaching in Beishi Elementary school. After attending the morning meeting, 主任 and the principal gave me some directions on what to do during my seven weeks of volunteering work here. I am glad that I met many friendly teachers and the students were very enthusiastic. Basically, my task is to interact with the students by speaking English and to create an English environment for them to improve themselves. I cant wait to get along with them and I hope they will get something fruitful from me in return. Besides, after chatting with the principal and students, I was very shocked that the Taiwan’s students study for a very long period everyday, which is from 8:40 am to 3:50 pm. In Malaysia, we usually study from 730 am to 1230 pm. Therefore, I am very amazed by their study routine and I somehow feel lucky for those Malaysian students. 

        Besides, I am going to stay in Trinity and Morgan’s house for two weeks. Grace Mama and Ryan Baba treat me very well and I feel like at home when I am with them. At home, I tried to speak English with the two children as well, with the hope that I can somehow improve their English within these two weeks.
                                                                 
                                                                    Morgan,my host brother.

                                                               
                                                                Trinity, my host sister.

                                                 The students in Beishi Guo Xiao.